What lets it down,
however, is an uninspired and overly long third act which slows down its
pace considerably with curiously repetitive gameplay. Uncharted 4
consequently falls short of the greatness achieved by some of developer
Naughty Dog’s leaner, more inventive predecessors.
Its
15-hour experience kicks off with focus. Uncharted 4’s story is
established in a compelling handful of chapters that weave their way
through different time periods with tightly directed cinematic flair.
While its setup is overly familiar - Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher are
attempting to retire from action-heroism and live a normal life until
Nate’s presumed-dead brother turns up with an offer he can’t refuse - a
strong emotional throughline is born from the characters’ struggle to
reconcile their adult responsibilities with the promise of excitement
they secretly crave. Uncharted 4 does a terrific job of exploring a more
world-weary group of adventurers, with their concerns and musings
layered throughout its quieter moments.
These
incidental conversations are a marvel. It’s here that we see characters
bristle and soften, brought slowly to life with considered writing and a
peerless voice cast. Performances from series veterans Nolan North
(Nathan Drake), Emily Rose (Elena Fisher), and Richard McGonagle (Victor
Sullivan) are as big-hearted as ever, while newcomers Troy Baker
(Samuel Drake), Laura Bailey (Nadine Ross), and Warren Kole (Rafe Adler)
are nicely understated in more enigmatic roles.
Uncharted
4’s companion characters never break the spell in more frantic or tense
sections, either. If you choose to play stealthily, they’ll crouch down
in the long grass beside you (and unlike Ellie in The Last of Us, they
do an excellent job of staying out of enemy sightlines). If they’re in
your way while climbing, they’ll let you clamber over them. They’re
competent in gun fights, helpful in traversal, and typically witty
throughout. They feel vital.
Smooth Criminal
This
level of polish and slickness permeates Uncharted 4. During traversal
you can now reach for platforms by controlling Nate like a puppet with
the DualShock thumbstick, which leads to fluid, unbroken climbing. A new
4x4 controls well over tricky terrain, and Uncharted 4’s camera
worships Nate’s grappling hook, lovingly zooming out as he swings off of
cliff faces to bring home a magnificent vista. Steep gravel paths (a
personal favourite) send Nate slipping across cliff faces like they were
waterslides.
Naughty Dog has expanded its terrain in order to
make the most of these new tools. While I would have enjoyed more to do
in this larger land mass - there’s disappointingly little to reward
exploration of its various nooks and crannies beyond the occasional
sparkling bit of treasure and a great view - I appreciated that
occasionally there was more than one pathway to reach my goal. For a
series defined by linearity, even the suggestion of choice is
refreshing.The same can be said for the stages of more violent action. While you’re occasionally flung into the middle of a group of mercenaries with little to do but shoot your way out, other encounters take place on elaborate adventure playgrounds allowing for more stealthy play. I appreciated the option, even if this is fairly pedestrian and routine stealth gameplay in 2016: characters can be tagged for tracking, long grass is there for silent takedowns, and enemies linger on ledges begging to be grabbed by the ankle from below or kicked off from behind. That’s not to say it’s done poorly – it’s as polished as everything else in Uncharted 4 – it simply doesn’t do anything surprising or interesting. More, considering AI switches to a cautionary state at any sign of trouble, I was disappointed I couldn’t move bodies.
If you’re noticed, Uncharted 4’s bad guys will
spring into action and distinguish themselves in combat. Open level
design allows them to pull relatively intelligent moves like flanking,
and they’ll rarely forget you’re there if you try to hide (while hanging
off a ledge, for example, they’ll stamp on your hands). Such credible
behaviour means you have to keep moving in battle; crouching behind an
indestructible pillar to regain your health is no longer feasible. While
shooting in Uncharted 4 is satisfying if unremarkable, enemies are now
savvy enough – and thankfully less spongy – that there’s a genuine
satisfaction born from each kill. It’s fun, frantic stuff.
Somehow,
the visuals keep up with it all. Unlike past Uncharted games where very
strict linearity allowed for very carefully orchestrated beauty between
stretches of more utilitarian sections built for action, Uncharted 4
manages to be all gorgeous, all the time. The big vistas are predictably
impressive, but it’s the little details that really astound: the way
snow settles on Nate’s hair, the shocking green of an underwater plant,
the reflection cast off of an oil painting. The regularity of such
beauty borders on ridiculous: it may be capped at 30 frames per second,
but this is the prettiest game I’ve ever played.
A Thief's End
With
such strong systems at its disposal, then, it's disappointing that
Naughty Dog doesn’t build more theatrical context around them. Regarding
the series’ trademark outrageously choreographed action sequences,
Uncharted 4’s campaign suffers from a curious lack of imagination. There
are bright spots: there’s a brilliant car chase in Madagascar and a
vertigo-inducing section involving clambering up a clock tower that
really stand out. But otherwise the thrills here tend to be of a more
predictable nature: lots of handholds breaking at the last minute,
buildings coming down, an occasional easily solved puzzle in an opulent
interior. It’s 2016, and after three Uncharteds (and two contemporary
Tomb Raiders) we’ve seen it all before.
This becomes a big
problem in Uncharted 4’s third act, where the pacing slows down to a
crawl. This jungle section is repetitive, and Nate and friends do little
in it but climb and shoot, rinse and repeat. After a while, every
encounter blurred into one amorphous amalgamation of shootouts, cliff
faces, and pushing crates off of ledges for your companion to clamber
up. As it’s the longest section in Uncharted 4, it eventually became a
slog.
Things pick up significantly by the end. The
thoughtful exploration of these characters and their relationships with
each other has a subtle payoff which bucks against the typical action
coda, and it’s to Naughty Dog’s credit that it’s unafraid to stay true
to its characters and their motivations, even if they aren’t as
explosive as one might expect.
After The End
There’s
not much to do in the main campaign once you’ve finished it, bar
completing your treasure collection, but there’s extended life to be had
in Uncharted 4’s confident 5v5 and 4v4 multiplayer. Though it’s still a
sideshow to the main campaign in scope, its four modes – Team
Deathmatch, Plunder, Command, and Ranked Team Deathmatch – embody the
series’ most enjoyable qualities: camaraderie (your teammates can be
revived when in a downed state), sheets of bullets, and a constant sense
of momentum. On the latter point, it helps that the stages for play
have been opened up from previous games thanks to the grappling hook:
zipping around to high vantagepoints to get the drop on enemies lends
itself to a dizzying sense of verticality.
Deathmatch is ranked,
which lends competitive longevity and appropriate skill matchmaking to
Uncharted 4’s multiplayer, but Plunder and Command are the most fun.
Command is a map-domination variant that places greater emphasis on
teamwork by putting a target on the back of the strongest player in each
team - the ‘captain.’ As you try and capture territories and hunt the
enemy’s captain, you also have to protect against the opposing team
trying to kill yours. You’ve got to be even more alert than usual, even
as you’re pursuing an objective.
A sense of chaos is further encouraged by the outrageous abilities you can now harness in all of Uncharted 4’s multiplayer modes. Spending earned points to temporarily wield supernatural powers like teleportation, which hurtles you across the map, and summon a sarcophagus that attacks the enemy with flying evil spirits can totally interrupt the rhythms of what would otherwise be a normal firefight.
The AI sidekicks available for every player are a clever new addition, too. Instead of buying flashy powers, you can summon enormously handy AI-controlled helpers in battle. They’re capable of fulfilling basic tasks like sniping, brute-force shooting, and healing – as well as giving your opponents something to shoot at that isn’t your head. If you’re up against them, there’s a franticness born from trying to take them down while being attacked from all sides.
These maps are well suited for shootouts, leaping, and magic powers. Wide open spaces peppered with lookout spots make for dramatic shootouts, winding corridors under heaving pirate ships are there for intimate encounters, and spots for the grappling hook are everywhere, meaning every game feels alive with motion.
While it’s difficult to say what Uncharted 4’s multiplayer will look like in the future, there are enough unlockables and perks to act as a carrot for completionists, and Naughty Dog has promised more maps, mysticals, and a co-op mode in the future that I’ll be sticking around for.
The Verdict
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a remarkable achievement in blockbuster
storytelling and graphical beauty. Though it’s let down by a lack of
imagination and some self-indulgence, especially in a third act that
drags on far too long, Uncharted 4 carries on the series’ proud
tradition of peerless polish and style, with a great multiplayer
component to boot. Most importantly, it’s a gentle sendoff to the
rag-tag group of characters we’ve known for nine years. A worthy thief’s
end, indeed.
Peerless visuals, slick gameplay and a confident story
make Nathan Drake's final adventure one to remember.
- Great story
- Stunning visuals
- Slick gameplay
- Fun multiplayer
- Bloated third act
Please Complete The Survey for downloading the game
0 comments:
Post a Comment